Centre in Oviedo sold to ECE Prime Shopping Centre Fund
A joint venture company through affiliates of intu properties plc (‘intu’) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has exchanged contracts to sell intu Asturias shopping centre to the ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Fund II for €290.0 million, with intu’s 50 per cent share earning the investment trust €145.0 million.
intu Asturias is located in Oviedo, Spain and is the regional retail and leisure destination for the Asturias region with an annual footfall of nine million.
The transaction forms part of intu’s stated strategy of fixing its balance sheet and will deliver net proceeds to intu of around €85 million after repaying asset-level debt, working capital adjustments and taxation. intu will use the net proceeds to repay debt with the transaction reducing loan to value by around 1 per cent. The transaction is expected to complete in the next week.
Matthew Roberts, chief executive of intu, commented: “We are pleased to have successfully agreed our second disposal in Spain in the last month. Our number one priority is fixing the balance sheet which includes creating liquidity through disposals. This transaction, which along with the disposal of intu Puerto Venecia, the part-disposal of intu Derby and other sundry asset sales brings our total disposals since the start of 2019 to nearly £600 million.”
